‘Education Under Attack 2014’, released recently by the Global Coalition to Prevent Education from Attack (GCPEA), located in New York City in the US, has refocused the world’s attention on at least 30 countries where children and teachers are deliberately targeted in conflict zones. Tens of thousands of children, along with their teachers, are bombed, burned, gassed, shot, threatened and abducted. And armed forces often choose schools as bases and weapons caches for extended periods, says the GCPEA, which has studied the effects of war and its aftermath on schooling in Afghanistan, Syria, Burma/Myanmar, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, India, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nepal, Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Uganda, Nigeria and Yemen.

The GCPEA report details the devastating long-term effects of war on schoolchildren and schools, and on the long-term economic development of affected countries.